Champ auctioneer Jill Doherty is ready for her first bid of the night.

“OK, we’re going to start with lot No. 1, an acrylic painting,” says Doherty, 57, of Bay Shore. Clad in a black cocktail dress, appropriate for this charity fundraising auction, Doherty stands at the front of a large room at Land’s End catering hall in Sayville. Members of the well-dressed crowd hold bid “paddles” (actually, numbered sheets of paper) for the brief bidding war that’s about to begin.

The crowd shows interest in the landscape painting, when Doherty says, “I’ve got 300, but looking for 400.” She’s following bidders with help from her daughter, Erin Doherty, 27, of Islip, her bid assistant for the event. Almost as quickly as it starts, it’s over. “Sold at $300,” Doherty says, definitively. By night’s end, 23 works of art will be auctioned, benefiting a Huntington-based charity.

Ancient historyAuctioneering is among the world’s oldest professions, experts say, dating to the selling of brides in ancient Babylon, and it’s an older person’s game. “By and large, the majority of professional auctioneers are older men who have been in the business 20 years or more,” says Chris Longly, spokesman for the National Auctioneers Association in Overland Park, Kan., which has roughly 4,000 professional members.

Auctioneers handle a wide variety of items, anything from stamps and coins to Internet URLs and huge tracts of real estate. They are in a profession that anyone can learn but only a relative few master enough to make a good living. Their business is an enduring, multibillion-dollar part of the U.S. economy. If you’ve bought a used car, for instance, it was probably sold at a wholesale auction, Longly says. And once you learn the trade, you never have to retire, even as a younger generation steps up to the podium — often to fill the shoes of a parent.

Doherty, who’s been coaxing higher prices from bidders for more than 25 years, is one of the nation’s recognized masters. In 2002, she won the National Auctioneers Association International Auctioneer Champion Women’s Division title. Competitors are judged on poise, hand motions, eye contact, even the way you say the word “sold,” Doherty said.

She doesn’t wield a gavel, but she does specialize in the repetitive rapid-fire patter — known in auctioneer parlance as “the chant” — associated with the trade.

Entertainment value“The chant is the entertainment of it,” says Doherty, who learned the trade in a 10-day class in Missouri. “If it’s not a pleasing chant, they [bidders] might leave.” She’s sold everything from a new bidet to a pair of Shaquille O’Neal‘s sneakers (also probably new).

The auctioneer’s style varies from laid back to fast and furious, to the stiffer British approach seen at Sotheby’s.

Phil Weiss, 54, of Oceanside, is nationally known as an appraiser on the PBS series “Antiques Road Show.” He also runs auctions behind a desk at his Oceanside warehouse. On a recent Sunday morning, keeping track of bids from the Internet, call-ins and an audience of mostly men clad in flannel shirts and jeans, Weiss calmly sold thousands of dollars in stamps and coins, including scarce Morgan silver dollars.

Weiss got into the business because his father ran a rare book shop in Manhattan, and he was intrigued by the idea of collecting unusual things. “I took a hobby of stamp collecting and rare books and turned it into an avocation,” he says. Over the years, he’s auctioned off “some weird stuff.”

“I always laugh when we auction off human hair,” says Weiss, who’s handled clippings from George Washington and Abe Lincoln. “You are getting 100 or 200 dollars for a piece of hair the size of your thumbnail.”

Auctioneering can be lucrative for those who master the craft. “We are commission sales people, and we can sell an awful lot really fast,” says Doherty, who made her name in storage facility and house auctions. Commissions typically hover around 10 percent of the sale price, sometimes less if the asset is more valuable.

And you can keep the money coming in for decades, with retirement neither mandatory nor necessary. Some auctioneers continue into their 90s.

“You can do it for as long as your voice lasts,” says David R. Maltz, 56, who lives and owns an auction house in the same community. His specialty is auto auctions.

Versatility needed But pumping an audience for the highest bids isn’t the easiest way to make a living, and the chant is only part of the job. Longly says a good deal of the work takes place behind the scenes, and auctioneers have to know marketing and advertising.

Maltz says that a day spent on his auction pedestal, which can involve selling as many as 250 cars, can be grueling, so he doesn’t smoke or drink, and he tries to stay in shape. He’s auctioned off some pretty unusual items over the years — including the entire contents of a funeral parlor, caskets and all — often grossing millions of dollars.

Doherty, whose father was a commercial auctioneer selling restaurant equipment in New York City, is passing the gavel to her daughter, who specializes in charity benefits. She and Erin are the nation’s “only mother-and-daughter auction team,” according to Doherty.

Sometimes, when Erin runs a benefit auction, she hires her mother to help track bidders. Doherty says: “You get to this age, and you are on the other side of the hill, and you say, ‘This is a good thing when the kids step up.’ ”

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We have conducted several benefit auctions in St. Thomas and now we are coming down to teach a seminar on how all events can reach their maximum potential. This April 6th join us at the Wyndham Sugar Bay and learn:

What everyone should know about having more successful fundraisers;

Proven tips, tools and tactics to raise more money at your next charity event!!

Professional Event Consultant and Benefit Auctioneer from New York City are conducting a one time only  seminar in St. Thomas, USVI.  Learn everything from finding the perfect venue to inviting the perfect guest.  This seminar is designed to help you create the most successful fundraiser you can have.  We will focus on 7 highlighted tips that successful top tier benefits are using today and the hottest trends in the fund raising world.

Join us to learn how to increase your revenue and your FUN!

***Click here to learn more and sign up to join us in St. Thomas***

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Islip NY Rotary auction this year was so beautiful.  Every detail came together there was a fun band that played during cocktail hour.  The raffle bags were over flowing, cocktails pouring and everyone was laughing. The honoree, Fr. Rick Simpson, was glowing as his friends, family, and colleagues proudly gathered around to celebrate his donations to the community. All was right with the evening as we settled in for dinner.  After the delicious meal at the Irish Coffee Pub was served several community representatives and electives gave short speeches of recognition and proclamations.  Then it was AUCTION time! This event was special to Star Benefit Auctions because we are local Rotarians so we are lucky at this event to have our family invited to join us.  Working as a mother-daughter team we don’t often get to share our work with the rest of the family.  At this year’s dinner Erin’s husband Sean Ward was able to watch, encourage, and even bid on a few items.  This group is very close there is a lot of humor and excitement within the crowd.  Fabulous items were auctioned off including a week stay in the Bahamas and a NYC package.  Yet the item that received the most attention was a “summer survival package” it included gym memberships, alcohol, snacks, sun and skin protection and even a boat ride.  Long Island people really love the summer and you could tell everyone was excited for this package and the prospect of summer being so nearby!

Seen at this event was one woman that was very prepared for the raffle.  New glasses are on the market that lets the user wear the glasses with the magnification and also turn on and off a light that adds to the ease of reading.  These glasses are very handy during a benefit especially when there is “mood” lighting.   As the auctioneer it ads a special touch of humor to look out at an audience with headlamps on!

"Now you won't miss your winning number"

Speaking of raffles, it was a common practice at this event that people didn’t want to put their tickets in individual baskets.  In fact in some cases guest would only buy the raffle tickets if someone else put them in the baskets for them.  We are beginning to see a trend of guests not wanted to take the time to do the “raffle shuffle”.  They do their donation and buy the tickets but it becomes a burden to put the tickets in the bags.  Overheard at the tables are people saying things like “I never win anyway” and “I don’t care what it is, it’s all for fun anyway.”   These common comments make me question all of the time and energy groups put into their raffles and how can we make them more fun.  Maybe going back to the huge gold rolling drum and tickets are matched with prizes.  The specialty raffles are still huge draws and get lots of attention but maybe cocktail hour needs to be embraced more for its social time, after all it can be a lot of work to try to balance a cute hand bag, a cocktail, a ribbon of tickets, and rip up the rest of them.  On the note of tickets the sheet raffles are way more efficient!!!

having just one number makes it faster and easier to find the winner!!!

Congratulations to the Islip Rotary for putting on such a great event and making sure all of your guest left happy.

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As we approach the end of the year we take time to reflect and plan on the next year.  In 2010 new trends in the Benefit auction world became prevalent.  We worked on ways to have more guests and bring support to organizations that really needed the help.  Events focused its energy on fun and organization knowledge at its events.  Now we look towards the trends of 2011.  What will help our events succeed in 2011? Should we invest in the new technology this year? Should we add more games to the night? Is wine the biggest hit of 2011?  As we attend kick off parties and work with groups on next years event I can’t help but worry about the events that haven’t booked their auctioneers yet.  Most of Star Benefit Auctions dates for March 2011 are full and other months are filling up as well.  Don’t wait to hire your expert.  Not only can we start helping you about trends for 2011 but booking early insures your event won’t be left to an amateur.  Make sure your event is important enough to trust to a professional and book Star Benefit Auctions today!  We are looking forward to helping you.

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This summer has been so exciting for the Star Benefit Auctioneers.  At the National Auctioneers Conference and Show this July, I competed for the first time ever in the International Auctioneers Competition.  My mom, Jill Doherty, is a past champion woman’s division in 2002.  She is a celebrity in the Auction community.  Everyone knows Jill and is so impressed with the way she holds an audience in her hand at her auctions.  She is a hero to many women and definitely to me.  She has hundreds of auction friends and at the Conference they all gather to share information and perfect the ever changing auction industry.  I competed this year amongst the best auctioneers in the world and was excited to stand before my peers.  I came in 8th place and was so honored.  It was the best feeling in the world to have my mom in the front row cheering me on like I had done all those years she competed.  I am looking forward to more competition in the future.  At the conference we were also able to auction off a New York city package in tandem.  Two women auctioneers (mother-daughter) with two microphones and one item made for a very fun item! We found people were bidding just to see us switch chants back and forth. It was great.

Erin Doherty-Ward Competing in 2010 IAC on the big screen

After the Auction Conference we returned to New York to another amazing experience.  We had an auction for Francios Pienaar’s Make a Difference first annual New York golf outing. We were in the Liberty Island golf course in New York. In a beautiful room with a great crowd we stood below the Statue of Liberty and raised money for the MAD Bunch.  Working as a mother daughter auction team we alternated items we sold and the other one was on the floor working with the vibrant audience.

Erin Doherty Ward and Francios Pienaar at MAD Golf outing

Being a one of a kinda mother daughter benefit auction team has more thrills than anyone can imagine.  Working with my mother and mentor has made our auction company so fun to be a part of.  I am so excited to see  what is next for the Star Benefit Auction team.  Our current goal is to help organizations go to the next level in their events. At the same time as increasing revenue we want to increase the fun. We think that working together will be double the excitement and double the  fun.

New York Mother Daughter Benefit Auction Team

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Welcome to Star Benefit Auctions Blog.  We are just getting set up but we can’t wait to share with you.  Please be patient as we fill in about who we are and how we can help you.

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